Twitter Moves Court Over Centre’s Content Blocking Orders

New Delhi: Twitter has moved the Karnataka High Court against the Indian government’s order to take down some content on its platform, on the grounds that the content blocking orders from the IT Ministry does not pass “the test of the grounds provided under Section 69A of the IT Act”, The New Indian Express reported quoting reliable sources.

The social media platform alleged in the court petition that several blocking orders that were issued to Twitter only “cite” the grounds of Section 69A but fail to demonstrate how the content falls within those grounds or how the said content is “violative” of Section 69A, the sources added.

In a June letter, the IT Ministry had warned Twitter of strict action if it does not comply with some content takedown orders.  Twitter has now sought judicial review of some of the content that forms a part of various blocking orders, requesting relief from the court to set aside these blocking orders.

According to the writ petition, account-level blocking is a “principally disproportionate measure” and “violates rights of users under the constitution, especially when the reasons stated to block URLs and reasons stated to block an account lack specificity and merely cite grounds under Section 69A”.

The IT Ministry was yet to react to Twitter’s move.